Pay 30% oil revenue to court registrar - Judge orders ENI, Vitol

An Accra Commercial High Court has ordered the Operators of Ghana’s Sankofa oil field, ENI Ghana Limited and its partner Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited, to immediately pay 30 percent of revenue realized from the sale of crude oil from the field to the Court Registrar.

The payment, which is estimated to be about US$40million monthly, shall start from 25th June 2021 (the date of the original ruling) and continue every month afterward until the substantive matter is determined. Upon receipt of the payment, the Registrar will then pay the same into an escrow account and furnish the Court and the parties with records of payment.

Justice Mariama Sammo issued the ruling on Monday, January 24th, 2022 in Accra, following an application by Springfield Exploration and Production Limited, Operator of the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) Block 2, for the court’s clear interpretation of its ruling. Springfield’s application was precipitated by ENI and Vitol’s failure to comply with the court’s ruling of June 25th, 2021.

On June 25th, 2021, the Court ruled in favor of SEP’s application to freeze revenues received by Eni and Vitol from the sale of crude oil from the Sankofa field pending determination of their substantive case filed in July 2020.

The companies have been in dispute since an April 2020 directive was issued by Ghana’s Ministry of Energy to unitize the Afina and Sankofa fields, to ensure optimal recovery of the resources in the common reservoir in the interest of all the parties involved including the state.